The Inquisition was a permanent institution in the
Catholic Church charged with the eradication of heresies.

Inquisition

The Inquisition was a medieval church court instituted to seek out and
prosecute heretics. The term is applied to the institution itself, which was
episcopal or papal, regional or local; to the personnel of the tribunal; and
to the judicial procedure followed by the court. Notoriously harsh in its
procedures, the Inquisition was defended during the Middle Ages by appeal to
biblical practices and to the church father Saint Augustine, who had
interpreted Luke 14:23 as endorsing the use of force against heretics.

Development and Institution

Problems with sects like the Albigenses (Cathari) and Waldenses in the 12th
century first led to the episcopal Inquisition. Often at the instigation of
secular rulers, bishops were urged to investigate and deal locally with
heretics, since they were seen as a threat to both the ecclesiastical and the
social order. Papal documents as well as the Second, Third, and Fourth Lateran
Councils (1139, 1179, 1215) prescribed imprisonment and confiscation of
property as punishment for heresy and threatened to excommunicate princes who
failed to punish heretics.

The papal Inquisition was formally instituted by Pope Gregory IX in 1231.
Following a law of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, enacted for Lombardy in
1224 and extended to the entire empire in 1232, Gregory ordered convicted
heretics to be seized by the secular authorities and burned. Like Frederick,
Gregory also mandated that heretics be sought out and tried before a church
court. For this purpose, he first appointed special inquisitors (for example,
Conrad of Marburg in Germany and Robert le Bougre in Burgundy) and later
entrusted the task to members of the newly established Dominican and
Franciscan Orders of friars. The independent authority of the inquisitors
was a frequent cause of friction with the local clergy and bishops.

Procedures

During the 13th century, the typical procedure began with the arrival of the
inquisitors in a specific locality. A period of grace was proclaimed for
penitent heretics, after which time denunciations were accepted from anyone,
even criminals and other heretics. Two informants whose identity was unknown
to the victim were usually sufficient for a charge. The court then summoned
the suspect, conducted an interrogation, and tried to obtain the confession
that was necessary for conviction. In order to do this, assisting secular
authorities frequently applied physical torture. This practice probably
started in Italy under the impact of rediscovered Roman civil law and made use
of such painful procedures as stretching of limbs on the rack, burning with
live coals, squeezing of fingers and toes, or the strappado, a vertical rack.

At the beginning of the interrogation, which was recorded summarily in
Latin by a clerk, suspects and witnesses had to swear under oath that they
would reveal everything. Unwillingness to take the oath was interpreted as a
sign of adherence to heresy. If a person confessed and was willing to submit,
the judges prescribed minor penances like flogging, fasts, prayers,
pilgrimages, or fines. In more severe cases the wearing of a yellow
"cross of infamy," with its resulting social ostracism, or
imprisonment could be imposed. Denial of the charges without counterproof,
obstinate refusal to confess, and persistence in the heresy resulted in the
most severe punishments: life imprisonment or execution accompanied by total
confiscation of property.

Since the church was not permitted to shed blood, the sentenced heretic was
surrendered to the secular authorities for execution, usually by burning at
the stake.

When the Inquisition had completed its investigations, the sentences were
pronounced in a solemn ceremony, known as the sermo generalis
("general address") or, in Spain, as the auto-da-fe
("act of faith"), attended by local dignitaries, clergy, and
townspeople. Here the penitents abjured their errors and received their
penalties; obstinate heretics were solemnly cursed and handed over to be
burned immediately in public.

Several inquisitors' manuals have survived, among them those of Bernard Gui
and Nicolas Eymeric. Other sources include checklists of standard questions
and numerous official minutes of local inquisitions. Some of these materials
have been published, but most exist in manuscript only.

The first inquisitors worked in central Europe (Germany, northern Italy,
eastern France). Later centers of the Inquisition were established in the
Mediterranean regions, especially southern France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
The tribunal was used in England to suppress the Lollards (followers of the
14th-century reformer John Wycliffe). Queen Mary I of England (r. 1553-58)
used the tribunal in her effort to reverse the Protestant Reformation. The
Inquisition's long survival can be attributed to the early inclusion of
offenses other than heresy: sorcery, alchemy, blasphemy, sexual aberration,
and infanticide. The number of witches and sorcerers burned after the late
15th century appears to have been far greater than that of heretics.

Spanish Inquisition

The Inquisition underwent special development in Portugal and Spain and their
colonies. At the insistence of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of
Castile, Pope Sixtus IV endorsed (1483) the creation of an independent Spanish
Inquisition presided over by a high council and grand inquisitor. Legend has
made the first grand inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, a symbol of ultimate
cruelty, bigotry, intolerance, and religious fanaticism.

The truth is that the Spanish Inquisition was particularly severe, strict,
and efficient because of its strong ties with the crown. Its major targets
were the Marranos (converts from Judaism) and Moriscos (converts from Islam),
many of whom were suspected of secretly adhering to their original faiths.
During the 16th century, Protestants and Alumbrados (Spanish mystics) seemed
to be the major danger. Often serving political ends, the inquisitors also
exercised their dreaded functions among the converted Indian populations of
the Spanish colonies in America. The Inquisition was finally suppressed in
Spain in 1834 and in Portugal in 1821.

Roman Inquisition

At the time of the Reformation, Pope Paul III created a cardinals' commission
at the curia as the final court of appeal in matters of heresy. This Roman
Inquisition was solidified (1588) by Sixtus V into the Congregation of the
Roman and Universal Inquisition, also known as the Holy Office, whose task was
to watch over the correct doctrine of faith and morals for the whole Roman
Catholic church. Reorganized in 1908 under the simpler title Congregation of
the Holy Office, it was redefined by Pope Paul VI in 1965 as the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the more positive task of furthering right
doctrine rather than censuring heresy.

Inquisition

Unlike many other religions (e.g., Buddhism, Judaism), the Catholic Church
has a hierarchical structure with a central bureaucracy. In the early years of
the church, there were several competing sects that called themselves
Christian. But after the Emperor Constantine I (280?-337 CE) made Christianity
the state religion of the Roman Empire and the local administrative structures
were pulled together into one hierarchy centered in Rome, doctrinal arguments
were settled by Church Councils, beginning with the Council of Nicea in 325
(which formulated the Nicean Creed). Those whose beliefs or practices deviated
sufficiently from the orthodoxy of the councils now became the objects of
efforts to bring them into the fold. Resistance often led to persecution.

Heresies (from L. haeresis, sect, school of belief) were a problem
for the Church from the beginning. In the early centuries there were the
Arians and Manicheans; in the Middle Ages there were the Cathari and Waldenses;
and in the Renaissance there were the Hussites, Lutherans, Calvinists, and
Rosicrucians. Efforts to suppress heresies were initially ad hoc. But
in the Middle Ages a permanent structure came into being to deal with the
problem. Beginning in the 12th century, Church Councils required secular
rulers to prosecute heretics. In 1231, Pope Gregory IX published a decree
which called for life imprisonment with salutary penance for the heretic who
had confessed and repented and capital punishment for those who persisted. The
secular authorities were to carry out the execution. Pope Gregory relieved the
bishops and archbishops of this obligation, and made it the duty of the
Dominican Order, though many inquisitors were members of
other orders or of the secular clergy. By the end of the decade the
Inquisition had become a general institution in all lands under the purview of
the Pope. By the end of the 13th centuries the Inquisition in each region had
a bureaucracy to help in its function.

The judge, or inquisitor, could bring suit against anyone. The accused had
to testify against himself/herself and not have the right to face and question
his/her accuser. It was acceptable to take testimony from criminals, persons
of bad reputation, excommunicated people, and heretics. The accused did not
have right to counsel, and blood relationship did not exempt one from the duty
to testify against the accused. Sentences could not be appealed. Sometimes
inquisitors interrogated entire populations in their jurisdiction. The
inquisitor questioned the accused in the presence of at least two witnesses.
The accused was given a summary of the charges and had to take an oath to tell
the truth. Various means were used to get the cooperation of the
accused. Torture came into use by the middle of the 13th century. The
findings of the Inquisition were read before a large audience; the penitents
abjured on their knees with one hand on a bible held by the inquisitor.
Penalties went from visits to churches, pilgrimages, and wearing the cross of
infamy to imprisonment (usually for life but the sentences were often
commuted) and (if the accused would not abjure) death. Death was by burning at
the stake, and it was carried out by the secular authorities. In some serious
cases when the accused had died before proceedings could be instituted, his or
her remains could be exhumed and burned. Death or life imprisonment was always
accompanied by the confiscation of all the accuseds' property.

Abuses by local Inquisitions early on led to reform and regulation by Rome,
and in the 14th century intervention by secular authorities became common. At
the end of the 15th century, under Ferdinand and Isabel, the Spanish
inquisition became independent of Rome. In its dealings with converted Moslems
and Jews and also illuminists, the Spanish Inquisition with its notorious autos-da-fé
represents a dark chapter in the history of the Inquisition. In northern
Europe the Inquisition was considerably more benign: in England it was never
instituted, and in the Scandinavian countries it had hardly any impact.

Pope Paul III established, in 1542, a permanent congregation staffed with
cardinals and other officials, whose task it was to maintain and defend the
integrity of the faith and to examine and proscribe errors and false
doctrines. This body, the Congregation of the Holy Office, now called the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, part of the Roman Curia, became
the supervisory body of local Inquisitions. The Pope himself holds the title
of prefect but never exercises this office. Instead, he appoints one of the cardinals
to preside over the meetings. There are usually ten other cardinals on the
Congregation, as well as a prelate and two assistants all chosen from the
Dominican order. The Holy Office also has an international group of
consultants, experienced scholars of theology and canon law, who advise it on
specific questions. In 1616 these consultants gave their assessment of the
propositions that the Sun is immobile and at the center of the universe and
that the Earth moves around it, judging both to be "foolish and absurd in
philosophy," and the first to be "formally heretical" and the
second "at least erroneous in faith" in theology. This assessment
led to Copernicus's De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium to be placed on
the Index of Forbidden Books, until revised and Galileo to be admonished about
his Copernicanism. It was this same body in 1633 that tried Galileo.

Conclusion

Among the innumerable victims of the Inquisition were such famous people as
the philosopher Giordano Bruno, Galileo, Joan of Arc, and the religious order
of knights called the Templars. The institution and its excesses have been an
embarrassment to many modern Christians. In anti-Catholic and antireligious
polemics since the Enlightenment (for example, Voltaire's Candide), the
Inquisition has been cited as a prime example of what is thought to be the
barbarism of the Middle Ages. In its day there was some popular sympathy for
the Inquisition. Some saw it as a political and economic tool, others, as a
necessary defense for religious belief. Nevertheless, despite all efforts at
understanding the institution in the light of social, political, religious,
and ideological factors, today the Inquisition is generally admitted to belong
to the darker side of Christian history.